A Call 4 Paws

It’s unfortunate I have to give any stars for a review. I was interested in a sibling for my dog so found a cute one on Pet Finder that belonged to this organization. I filled out an application online as that is what most rescues require before you can meet one of their animals. I also emailed a question about him. This was a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything. I also called to inquire and haven’t heard back. If your mission is to help find animals a loving home, I don’t understand why you would not follow up. If your life is too busy to properly run a non-​profit pet rescue organization, then don’t run it.

I am a good friend of the caretaker of the sanctuary A Call 4 Paws has in Jonestown, PA. I have also met Linda. All I can say is Linda is an awful person. She treats the caretaker beyond terrible. The cats there are more then well taken care of and she has gone above and beyond for the cats. Linda is never happy and just points out made up problems. She, in my opinion, needs to seriously work on her people skills. The cats are not taken care of properly medical wise because she doesn’t want to spend the money. And Linda has guilted the caretaker that if she leaves, Linda will have all the cats put down!!! What kind of person that claims to have a rescue but threatens to kill them all if she doesn’t get her way. She doesn’t love animals, she uses them to make herself look like a hero when in fact she is a horrible person!!!

My family and I had a fantastic experience with A Call 4 Paws and are so impressed with Linda’s kindness, patience and dedication to the animals in her care. When I first called Linda she asked a lot of questions about our application and situation, but they were excellent questions and reflected the thoughtfulness she puts into matching her dogs with the right person/​family. Linda’s house visit also reflected her thoroughness (again, a lot of questions but nothing we could not handle) and she made great suggestions to help ensure the safety of our yard and house for our incoming pet. She was very personable during the visit, and particularly sweet to my special needs son. We are so incredibly happy with our little guy, a perfect fit for our family. Thank you so much Linda, you are an inspiration to us!

LONG REVIEW, BUT A VERY, VERY IMPORTANT READ.
Let me start off by saying that Linda truly cares about animals and with everything that happened, I respect that wholeheartedly. It seems she’s lost touch with humans and how to properly interact with them and it may well be the result of years of doing this and/​or bad experiences.
I called her on a Thursday evening and talked to her for a while with my boyfriend on speaker so she could get to know the home and environment of which our prospective puppy would hopefully be a part. She said everything sounded great and to fill out an application online.
Friday morning I called to follow up and confirm she’d received the application and expressed sincere interest in the dog. We spoke for at least half an hour about everything and she said that I was a great fit and that my application was the best one out of 30 others she reviewed for this dog and she’d like for me to have him. I was so excited I made plans to meet with her at 8 that same night. $ 30 in tolls and $ 10 in gas to get to the address in NJ she have me only to find that it’s a very residential area. I understood that she had a rescue so I figured it was likely in her house to save on cost and brushed it off. She texted me a few times while I was on the way (and on time) asking to let her know where we were and when we were outside. I just figured she was anxious.
We got there and she was already outside across the street with the dog. The dog came running to us, sat on our lap and loved the attention we gave him. We were talking and everything was going well until we asked to confirm that we’d be signing something. The second we asked that, her face turned cold and she said, «I’m sorry, this isn’t going to work out». It became really awkward and so we asked what happened and what changed — we were super confused. She said she sensed mistrust. To be perfectly honest, she met us outside, we weren’t even standing outside of the actual address she gave us — we were across the street in someone’s driveway, sitting on their actual driveway because that’s what she had us do. We weren’t allowed to go in the rescue. Seems a little odd? We thought so.
Once we spoke to her and explained that we were just confirming and that it wasn’t for anything other reason, we spent an hour playing with the dogs, she said we would be going through with the adoption and handed me a contract to sign — on the concrete of someone’s driveway — the pen ripping through the crumbled up contract. As we were talking, she mentioned there was a return policy of 30 days during which if it didn’t work out we would return the dog and get our money back. I couldn’t care less, this dog was coming home and there was no reason I’d ever return him. She said, «You know what? Make it two months.» I was grateful to have that generous backup even though I never planned to use it and asked if she could put it in the contract I was signing, just to have it there. She got up and said she doesn’t feel comfortable because we didn’t trust her. I explained that in the same way that she needs for me to sign a statement saying I’ll be giving the dog a good home and not getting rid of him or giving him a way, it was only fair and balanced to have what she promised verbally on there as well. It’s just fair and common sense to, at minimum, provide someone the same amount of trust you expect. She became very irritated at the idea and started to walk away. She said I should give it a day to think about it. An hour of being there with the dog, building a relationship with him, being told we were coming to pick him up to take him home, a 35 minute drive into NJ costing $ 40 and we were being told it wasn’t going to work out.
I texted her when I got home apologizing for everything having worked out the way that it did, that there was no disrespect in asking for what she promised and that we were very interested. I tried explaining that we were just thrown by how everything was handled and she said (copied verbatim from my text of which I’ve saved) «I’m too worn out to try to explain what I do to anyone». One would think that would be something she should do, considering the importance behind a transaction of a living thing. I explained that she should really reconsider as this might throw other people off and hinder her ability to find really good homes for her animals.
Continued on update or second review since Unilocal has a word cap on reviews.

The woman I spoke with about adoption was very flaky. She kept abruptly ending our phone conversions and would tell me she’d call me right back but I wouldn’t hear from her for days. This happened 2 – 3 times until she just stopped communicating with me at all. I was very upset, as she made it seem I wouldn’t be a good dog owner. She even told me that «I work too much» to own a dog. Mind you, I work only 3 days per week and even then I’d have someone care for the dog while I was at work. I am a dog walker, trained in pet first aid, volunteer at my local shelter, have owned pets all my life and am a huge animal lover. Her insinuating that I’d be a poor dog owner just broke my heart. She also told me the dog I wanted had a lot of «problems». But the dogs description online said otherwise. Either way, I really wanted the dog and was 100% willing to work on any «problems» she had. I think she/​they just really don’t want to adopt out any of their animals. Tho, I have no idea why that would be! I hope I am wrong. I have tried to contact them about adopting a different dog and got zero response.

5÷23÷15 9:39 pm FYI: SHE DOES NOT ALLOW REVIEWS TO HER WEBSITE THAT ARE BELOW 5 STARS TO BE POSTED! We lost our dog we had 14.5 years to Degenerative Myelopathy/​Cancer in March 2015. It took a lot but we decided on an adorable chihuahua, miniature-​pitbull, boston terrier mix named, «Fred» from this «rescue». I was questioned by Linda and time and again during our THREE 45 – 60 minute conversations, she liked what she heard and my 23 year old son, husband and I were over the moon at the prospect of having another dog. Linda, the woman who runs the «rescue», for 3 weeks made 2 appts. to meet with us to come and see our place and cancelled last minute! «Fred» is a 1.5 year old dog she has now the second time around for 6 months. She let me know the night before she was supposed to come that the other family claimed he turned vicious and we didn’t care because with love and perseverance, we knew he could be as awesome as she claimed he was. I attributed it to a bad first adoption. (She’d adopted him out once before and it did not work out.) 13 Minutes before she was supposed to leave to come the 2^nd time, she cancelled because she had a «long day». I did too, because I ran around to buy my new dog I was paying $ 200 for, $ 100 worth of food and toys and stuff. She told me she «has a lot of time off and could take a day off» (last week and then never called until 9:00 PM last Fri!) but then said she’d come Thursday (⁵⁄₂₁) evening, the date of the 2^nd cancellation. She must not be stable and actually, the night before I had asked her if she is attached to him as she went on as to how he was attached to a pitbull she’d rescued and she feigned «no». After letting us down the 2^nd time I let her know that this is hurtful and unprofessional and I ran around all day because I knew once she saw how we live as we’ve lived here for 20 years, she’d know he’d have a great life with us. She told me she didn’t want to drive an extra 17 minutes longer than what we’d thought her commute would be. We travel to Jersey City twice a year and it takes us an hour. i gave her my address a few times and she didn’t google it until the day of the 2^nd scheduled visit and she complained that an hour and 17 minute ride was too long!!! She saw my Facebook with tons of pics/​videos of our other dog and how spoiled and loved she was. The holiday weekend, Fri.-Mon., I had 4 days off to bond with our dog (Fred) and hopefully start a routine and she said she was happy about that. I brought this up when she cancelled again and she didn’t care! I told her she must want to keep him because she makes it impossible to adopt. She «suggested» we meet up half way 5÷23÷15 (Sat.) and I said, «But I thought you had to do a home check?» and she said, «I do but then we could do the home visit another time.» I made every attempt to be as transparent as possible to this woman and she knew this could be great for Fred. I just don’t get it! I told her she was flaky and unprofessional and she’s not thinking of what is best for this dog; that a rescue isn’t what is best, a home is. I told her to never call me again and my husband, son and I are sad. Today we returned the stuff we bought for Fred. Personally, I see she has issues to not do her BEST to arrive at the 2^nd home-​visit appt. she’d cancelled once before, especially since she knew she found an amazing home! I am livid with her.

I love animals. Period. And I was completely heartbroken and offended when I called to inquire about a dog and spoke with an adoption agent that made me feel as though I was the Son of Sam, using the animal for a sacrifice! During the questions they became personal and judgmental and I hung up feeling very discouraged.
I am still on my quest and have a word of advice for A Call 4 Paws: Keep up the good work and perform a cleansing of your office because with people like her there will be a lot of animals that will not have a loving home.